Hands-on distance learning sounds like an oxymoron, yet that’s exactly what Microsoft Official Distance Learning (MODL) is: a blended learning programme that provides technical training to IT professionals and developers who want hands-on technical training and need the convenience of learning when they want, wherever they are.Read more...Source: CHECKpoint eLearning

Just look at this article, by Donald R. Paulson and Jennifer L. Faust.

The past decade has seen an explosion of interest among college faculty in the teaching methods variously grouped under the terms 'active learning' and 'cooperative learning'. However, even with this interest, there remains much misunderstanding of and mistrust of the pedagogical "movement" behind the words. The majority of all college faculty still teach their classes in the traditional lecture mode. Some of the criticism and hesitation seems to originate in the idea that techniques of active and cooperative learning are genuine alternatives to, rather than enhancements of, professors' lectures.

The Oxford Total Learning Group announces the launch of the Oxford Coach Mentoring Channel, its new service that uses the web-based technology to deliver coach mentoring excellence in a variety of easy-to-use audio-visual formats. Read more...Source:Learningbusiness.fi

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Martyn Sloman Interview: One of the most reliable speakers on learning and technology in the UK is Martyn Sloman, Adviser in Learning, Training and Development at CIPD. He spoke to Kineo, the leading e-learning consultancy, on the changes in the global economy and their impact on trainers and learners, and the role of technology in supporting the individual learner.Read more...Martyn's new book, The Changing World of the Trainer, will be published in April 2007.You can hear the full conversation at http://www.kineo.co.uk/audio-downloads/martyn-sloman-interview.html

Article by Emma J. Stodel, Terrie Lynn Thompson and Colla J. MacDonald, appears in Vol 7, No 3 (2006) edition of The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning:

Despite the success that instructors and learners often enjoy with online university courses, learners have also reported that they miss face-to-face contact when learning online. The purpose of this inquiry was to identify learners’ perceptions of what is missing from online learning and provide recommendations for how we can continue to innovate and improve the online learning experience.

E-books offer new ways for readers to interact with content. Seven basic facts about e-books in The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI).Read more...Source:EDUCAUSE

New pedagogies are developing with the digital age which reflect collaboration, internalised thinking, reflection and iteration rather than the concept of the taught lesson; however, the Internet is still regarded by many as a convenient mechanism for delivering traditional materials online.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Following "E-Moderating", which looked at the role of the online teacher, this book addresses readers in both higher education and corporate training who are seeking to develop interactive and online programmes that truly engage learners.; In education and training, the focus of those teaching with online technology is now on the actual content of programmes.

Written by Gilly Salmon, an e-learning expert, this book shows the central role of activities in online learning and the importance of engaging learners. The book shows how to: develop low-cost and worthwhile e-activities; create fuller participation in online learning; and retain and satisfy learners.;Based on Gilly Salmon's own research and worldwide experience working with students and in commercial training, this book is intended for professionals involved in online learning.

Article by Richard Hartshorne and Richard E. Ferdig, appears in the Volume 5, 2006 edition of Electronic Journal for the Integration of Technology in Education:

There are numerous benefits associated with integrating hypermedia applications into teaching and learning environments. However, simply adding a hypertextual component does not ensure increased success in teaching or learning. Various issues can transform hypermedia into a constraint rather than an enabler of learning.

Just look at this article, by Peter B. Williams, Scott L. Howell, R. Dwight Laws and Emily Metheny, appears in the Winter 2006 edition of The Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration:

Distance learning administrators are always looking for ways to balance increasing demands on instructor time, rising expectations from students and faculty for support services, mounting competition, and escalating costs with quality instruction and interaction. Increasingly, programs are responding to these competing interests by appending ancillary resources to course materials and textbooks and by using computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools, e.g., e-mail, online bulletin and discussion boards, blogs, interactive television, and computer conferencing.

High attrition rates among new teachers are of concern to teacher educators. Support mechanisms may help teachers feel less isolated in their new profession. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies can connect novice teachers in ways that are both time and place independent. Most research on asynchronous online discussions has focused on achieving formal learning goals through highly structured scaffolds for reflective thinking and cognitive presence. Less attention is being paid to how novice teachers who are already accustomed to participating in online communities turn to these online spaces for the support they need. This case study examined whether and how eight preservice teachers completing English education internships at professional development schools chose to use an asynchronous discussion forum in the absence of a tightly structured or controlled communication task.The interns chose to use the online space for just-in-time informal learning and for psychological support on complex issues that were not easy to discuss face to face. The interns regularly responded to each others’ requests, thoughts, and concerns. The authors propose that highly structured online forums are not the only way CMC can be used for teacher support, particularly now that CMC is no longer a novelty, nor should formal learning be the only purpose for providing such online spaces to novice teachers.Read more...

Just look at this interesting article, by Sribhagyam Srinivasan, Daphne D. Lewis, Steven M. Crooks, appears in the Winter edition of Journal of Interactive Online Learning:Today’s technology has reached new heights that have not been fully implemented. One of the areas where technology has not yet reached its full potential is in education. This study examined the effects of concreteness of location names and contiguity of location names with textual information on learning from computer-based reference maps. The research was designed to be a 3 concreteness (concrete vs. abstract vs. non-familiar) X 2 contiguity (non-contiguous vs. contiguous) with six treatment levels. One hundred and sixty-seven college students studied a digital reference map presented to them. The results indicate that participants in the contiguous condition recalled significantly more feature-related facts than those in the non-contiguous condition. The results also indicate that the participants’ performance in recall, matching feature-fact pairs, as well as in the inference was significantly more for concrete features names and abstract feature names than the non-familiar feature names. A significant interaction effect was also observed for the matching of fact-feature pairs. The findings are not thoroughly consistent with the concreteness and conceptual peg effects associated with Paivio’s dual coding theory (DCT).More research needs to be done to continue investigating this phenomenon. However, this study will assist teachers and designers better understand how to design cognitive maps and spatial displays that facilitate learning.Read more...

Sunday, December 24, 2006

The ADDIE (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation) process remains the dominant instructional model. Yet, it is not the optimal process for the design of e-learning. It neither takes advantage of the technology underlying e-learning nor produces the kind of creative and effective learning experiences we need. What is the alternative? Rapid Prototyping: the method now employed by most experienced designers. In this book, one of six in Michael Allen's Online Learning Library, Allen shows how rapid prototyping methodology--using successive cycles of analysis/evaluation, design, and development--can bring tremendous cost, efficiency and creative benefits to e-learning.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Ken A. Graetz is the director of e-learning at Winona State University, where he is engaged in the development of learning opportunities for WSU faculty and staff members, e-learning project management and support, and numerous research and development projects.

For those interested in eLearning from a university or academic perspective.

"ELearning and Digital Publishing" will occupy a unique niche in the literature accessed by library and publishing specialists, and by university teachers and planners. It examines the interfaces between the work done by four groups of university staff who have been in the past quite separate from, or only marginally related to, each other - library staff, university teachers, university policy makers, and staff who work in university publishing presses. All four groups are directly and intimately connected with the main functions of universities - the creation, management and dissemination of knowledge in a scholarly and reflective manner.

This book provides a framework, which clearly portrays the relationships between information literacy, eLearning and digital publishing. The structure of the book has three main sections: the first has primarily an educational focus, the second a focus on digital publishing, and the third builds on the first two sections to examine overall implications for the growth of knowledge and scholarly communication.

In e-Learning and the Science of Instruction authors Ruth Colvin Clark and Richard E. Mayer - internationally recognized experts in the field of e-learning - offer essential information and guidelines for selecting, designing, and developing e-learning courses that build knowledge and skills for workers learning in corporate, government, and academic settings.

This book takes a deep look at the entire eLearning landscape and beyond.

Rosenberg provides insights into the best practices in the areas of knowledge management, online collaboration and other essential learning elements within an organization.It is a valuable tool in any training professional’s toolkit.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

What’s new and cutting edge in e-learning? Who’s creating new forums for sharing knowledge, who’s offering up innovative ideas, and what are those ideas? What content development approaches and innovations are the most promising from a long-term perspective?To answer these questions – and many others – Gary Woodill has compiled a 236-page report that tackles 50 of the most promising ideas, innovations, and content formats in the field of e-learning.

Change is inevitable, and trends in e-learning are no exception. Mobile devices, multi-channel learning, and "mashups" of many technologies make the future of e-learning, in a word, exciting. Yet, these technological advances are difficult—if not impossible—to keep up with.In what new and uncharted directions are online learning technologies heading, and how do learning professionals keep from falling behind?

Thursday, December 14, 2006

More students than ever are taking courses online, according to a national report, and area institutions are increasing their efforts to attract students who are short on time. The Sloan Consortium, an organization dedicated to educating institutions about online learning, estimates that 40 percent more students nationwide took online courses in the Fall of 2005 over the previous year.Read more...

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

This article, by Florentino Blázquez Entonado and Laura Alonso, appears in the November edition of EURODL:AbstractIn an attempt to improve the training of e-learning teachers, we have carried out research into tasks, exercises and mechanisms that have proved to be effective in online training. Five aspects of the teaching / learning process (theoretical content; activities; mechanisms of interaction; communication tools; and design) were analysed. A training course was assessed at two different times using two cohorts of students, which in total comprised 342 participants. The second delivery of the course was modified following feedback on the first course. In order to further increase our understanding of the effectiveness and value of the course changes, 12 teachers were also questioned throughout the development of the course. The overall aim of the study was to determine what training methods were most effective in the delivery of an online teaching training course.Read more...Source: The European Journal of Open and Distance Learning

Monday, December 11, 2006

I came across this new project recently. Users can find a wide assortment of materials at AMSER, from large web sites focusing on an individual applied science or math topic to Flash animations that demonstrate specific science or math principles in action.

Professor Timothy McKay moved quickly through his lessons on the physics of motion. It's classic, time-honored science, but McKay is teaching it in distinctly modern fashion in one of the University of Michigan's newest facilities, the $61 million Undergraduate Science Building.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

The basic questions in this book are in what sense does learning lead to knowledge, what forms of learning are adequate in the so-called knowledge society, and how are appropriate forms of learning underpinned?

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The Net Pedagogy Portal is a resource whose purpose is to increase understanding, knowledge, and awareness of the changing landscape of teaching and learning online.It is one of a series of web portals created by students taking MDDE663 – Emerging Technologies in Distance Education (fall 2006).Read more...Source: Net Pedagogy MDE663

"OpenLearn" will allow anyone across the globe to access the educational resources freely available on the Internet.

The material for the online courses is taken from all 170 fields of study within the OU and will cover subjects from arts through natural sciences and technology. The new website comes with state-of-the-art learning support and collaboration tools to connect learners and educators, such as videoconferencing, mind maps, and instant messaging.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

One of the major hurdles for students trying to master a foreign language is the difficulty in reading authentic texts with unfamiliar vocabulary — looking up words in the dictionary, especially for longer texts, is a boring and time-consuming task that can turn reading into an exercise in frustration.But this obstacle may be a thing of the past with the introduction of the WordChamp® Web Reader, a free online tool which helps students read foreign language websites and documents.Read more...Source: WordChamp

A new online publication on e-learning from elearningeuropa.info.In this first edition, you will find a number of articles, each providing an individual outlook on e-learning in Europe:

• Ian Roffe talks about new e-language tools for lesser-used European languages;• Researchers of the “mGBL – mobile game-based learning” project write about how the project has carried out research into the use of mobile devices among young adults with different levels of education and culture;

• Sharon Monti, Félix San Vicente and Vanio Preti discuss language learning and teaching experience in the context of e-learning.

• Jean Johnson and Jonny Dyer point out how user-generated content plays an important role in defining new pedagogical approaches to learning. And finally,

• Tapio Varis outlines a need for common European virtual education across national borders.Read more...

Life-changing knowledge does typically require advanced learning techniques. In fact, it's been said that the average adult only uses 10% of his/her brain. Imagine what we may be capable of with more advanced learning techniques. Tips on how to learn better than ever before.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

The way in which Europeans interact with the internet is constantly changing as the medium evolves and matures, according to research announced by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA). The 2006 Mediascope research reveals that social networking and establishing personal connections via internet phone calls, instant messaging and online forums will continue to drive internet growth as the medium becomes a more ingrained part of the consumer’s lifestyle. The research also demonstrates that increased broadband penetration across Europe has positively impacted the numbers of hours Europeans spend online and has contributed to the increased use of price comparison, news and local information websites, blogging, online radio and music downloads.Read more...

Hundreds of thousands of animals are saved each year from use in education thanks to computer simulations created by Professor of e-learning at Edinburgh University, David Dewhurst.The development of his software programs has been funded by the Lord Dowding Fund for the past 20 years as his computer programmes replace the use of animals in university science teaching.Read more...Source: 24dash.com

The academic technology company Blackboard stirred up criticism earlier this year when it obtained a patent that some claimed gave it a monopoly on the blanket concept of e-learning.Read more...Source: CNET

Friday, December 01, 2006

Wimba Voice Tools v5.1 includes Wimba Podcaster, which enables teachers to add audio files to their online course to which students can subscribe as podcasts. Instead of logging in to Blackboard courses, users can automatically receive new voice files through iTunes podcast lists. With Wimba Voice Presentation Tool, instructors can author online presentations with voice and visuals. They can utilize web material and add their own vocal and text messages alongside URLs. Read more...

This book provides the first critical evaluation of theory and practice in online learning and teaching in higher education. It also provides a critique of online learning for all those working in a higher education setting.

Contact me

About me

Helge Scherlund

Denmark

Hello, my name is Helge Scherlund and I am the Education Editor of this personal weblog and the founder of eLearning • Computer-Mediated Communication Center.
I have an education in the teaching adults and adult learning from Roskilde University, with Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and Human Resource Development (HRD) as specially studied subjects. I am the author of several articles and publications about the use of decision support tools, e-learning and computer-mediated communication. I am a member of The Danish Mathematical Society (DMF), The Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics (DSTS) and an individual member of the European Mathematical Society (EMS). Note: Comments published here are purely my own and do not reflect those of my current or future employers or other organizations.